


Trace

by JustInkonPaper



Series: The Long Way Around [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 03:45:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7961194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustInkonPaper/pseuds/JustInkonPaper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trace. <strong>Noun.</strong> <em>a minute and often barely detectable amount.</em></p><p>When the Rift began to pull things back into itself, Ford stated that every last trace of Bill would be gone. The Rift Agreed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trace

The memory gun hummed in his hand, warm as it continued to eat away at Stan’s mind. Ford opened his eyes after initially pulling the trigger. He desperately wanted to close his eyes again, to look away, anything but to see the blue light enveloping his brother’s face. But he wouldn’t. He would etch this moment into his memories…because it should have been him to fix this mistake. 

The gun powered down and Ford lowered it, eyes still fixed on his brother. Bill was gone, forever. Their dimension safe. The world safe. Gravity Falls safe. The kids safe. 

Stan was gone, forever. And the gun fell from his hands, clattering loudly in the still air of the throne room.

The banners above them shone brightly and the captured members of the Zodiac tumbled down as the power that kept them there shattered. 

Before anyone could even take in the reality of what had transpired, the ground shook. The air was screaming as the first bit of the fearamid broke off and rose into the rift. 

“Great Uncle Ford!” The twins shouted. 

“Everything will be fine!” Ford called out over the sound of the rift vacuuming the unearthly weirdness. “Everything related to Bill will go back to where it belongs. Every last trace of it! 

The stones around them continued to crumble and everyone could hear the alien screams of Bill’s henchmen fade into the roar of the rift. Just a bit more and Gravity Falls would go back to it’s normal level of weirdness. 

Stone bricks shot up, glass shards swirling and the rift grew brightly as the members of the Zodiac watched. Ford turned to where his brother sat kneeling when he saw it. Not the rift the reflected off Stan’s glasses but the stone slab his brother was on lifting away with Stan on it. 

“No! Stan!” Ford reached out but more of the flooring broke away, halting him in his track. “No! No!” 

Stan continued to rise up. Then the slab crumbled further, the little island reducing in size. Ford and the others scrambled through the debris to be ready to catch Stan’s unconscious body. At last the thinning slab snapped in two and flew straight into the heart of the Rift. Stan’s body dipped and everyone threw out their hands. 

“Oh god no…” Ford wasn’t even sure if he had been the one to say it. 

Stan’s descent puttered to a halt, and he just hovered in the air. His hair ruffled in the wind and his coat fluttered wildly. He just floated in the air before he crept slowly towards the rift. 

“Someone, get some rope! Get something!” Ford instructed. Everyone looked around wildly before Mable dashed forward. 

“Grappling hook!” The anchor shot forward and latched itself around Stan’s leg. Mable grinned triumphantly before she felt the rope pull taut. “Whoa!” She wrapped both her hands around the grip of the grappling gun and dug in her heels. “A little help!” 

Dipper was the first one to her side, throwing his arms around his sister’s waist. He pulled with what strength he had but soon found that it wasn’t enough as he felt the sole of his feet pull away from the soft earth. 

“Gotcha!” A feminine voice called in his ear and Dipper looked up.

“Wendy!” He exclaimed. “Alright!” His eyes filled with determination. “On the count of three, we pull ok?” 

Wendy gave him a wink. 

“One!” Wendy tightened her hold on Dipper.

“Two!” Mable gripped her grappling gun tighter.

“Three!” Dipper himself squeezed his eyes shut as he locked his fingers together. 

With Wendy’s added strength, they managed to halt Stan’s progress. As the Trio gave a whoop of joy, the rift above grew wider, the winds picking up. 

“I’m losing my footing” Wendy yelped as she felt herself being dragged forward. That was all it took for the rest of the Zodiac members to throw themselves into the task. 

“Pull!” 

“Don’t let up!” 

“I broke a nail!” 

“Gideon, who cares about your nail?” Pacifica kicked Gideon’s shin. 

Ford snapped out of his daze and ran towards the group. “Hold it steady!” He shouted as he ran to Mabel’s side. She was straining to keep her grip on the grip but she could only last so long. “Mable, sweetie, I need you to trust me and hand me the gun.”

“But Great Uncle Ford!” She cried, tears welling up in her eyes. 

“I know, but your fingers need to rest. I can hold out long enough to get him down. ” He placed his six fingered hands over hers. “Can you do that?”

Mabel looked up at him and nodded her head. 

“Good.” 

Her fingers pulled away, painful and cramped from holding the strained position for so long. And he clamped down on the grip right away, his fingers already feeling the pull as Stan bobbed in the whirlwind above. Instead of leaving the chain, Mabel instead wrapped her arms around his leg. She looked at him with resolve. “I won’t let go of Grunkle Stan!” The group all yelled their resolve to hold on and bring back the man who has saved them all. 

The rope was beyond taut and Ford could feel the fiber groan at the strain. He wasn’t sure about the tensile strength of the rope but he just prayed it would hold until the rift closed. _Come on Stanford! This is your brother!_ He pulled. _He saved you, now return the favor!_

The fearamid was nearly gone when the last remnants of the floor of the throne room bombarded Stan. The anchor’s grip was dislodged and Stan moved. 

“NO!” Ford gasped as the anchor fell. He felt himself falling backwards as the shift in balance moved. But he never fell to the ground like the others. 

One of the hook’s barbs dug itself into the lip of Stan’s boot sole. The rope grew taut once more and Ford felt himself being lifted off the ground. His throat went dry as his mind transported him to the last time he had been pulled off his feet because of Stan. 

_"Stanley! Stanley, help me!"_ He had called out. _"Stanley, Stanley, do something! **STANLEY!"**_

“GREAT UNCLE FORD!” Dipper and Mable were on him in no time, their tiny feet soon skimming the grass. 

Soos and Wendy grabbed Dipper and Mable respectively but both also found themselves unable to get a good footing. 

“Why is this happening?!” Sobbed Mable. 

“The rift should have closed by now! Why is it still open?” Dipper yelled at the top of his lungs. 

Ford looked up at the precarious grip the barb had on Stan’s boot. Every last trace of the things that Bill had brought over with him had been sucked up into the portal. It didn’t make sense. There was nothing left that needed to go back! Every last trace gone!

Trace…

Ford’s eyes went wide as he was struck with sickening realization. He had assumed that Bill had been completely erased forever along with Stan. But what if…what if a sliver remained buried somewhere? 

The rope quivered. 

Ford grabbed the rope and shouted at Stan. “Wake up damn it! Wake up so that the rift can close!” 

The rope waved and sang of tension and limits. The wind howled like a dying scream. The human chain yelled. Ford sobbed and pleaded, reaching out to pull Stan closer…closer…one more inch…one more...reach out and grab him!

The rift burned white. 

The barbed hook twirled in the air. 

Then it wasn’t. 

Gravity returned.

Every last trace of Bill was finally gone.

**Author's Note:**

> When I saw the scene right after Bill was defeated, I couldn't help but think **_What if Stan got swept up as well?_** . Now everyone can join the Pines Family in their anger at me. 
> 
> And why would Stan get pulled in? Well, as Ford said, every last trace was going back. And since no one but the viewers even know that Bill said that incantation, what's not to say a trace isn't left lingering in Stan's mind? 
> 
> Who knows. Maybe there could be a happy ending to this tale. Or a longer story. Because happy endings don't come free.
> 
> (I haven't written a fanfic in such a long time. I'm still a bit rusty).


End file.
